Candidate Thompson Case Summary

District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson was elected to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office January 1, 2014. He defeated his predecessor Charles J. Hynes who held office from 1990-2013. DA Thompson is the first African-American district attorney of Kings County. Prior to being employed in a city position, he was employed in the private sector.

Candidate Carpenter briefed a good five paragraph order. SNC briefed a good initial plan prior to starting the execution phase of the problem. SNC posted security prior to briefing showing his ability to operate in a tactical environment, SNC checked in with security for the remainder of the problem. SNC initially sent two candidates on top of the wall to gain reconnaissance of the area beyond the wall. SNC quickly realized the problem with this and had himself assisted up on top of the wall in order for himself to assess the situation. SNC quickly made a decision on what to do next and has a candidate go down the other side of the wall. From there SNC was in constant communication with the candidate and assisted the candidate into position

Candidate Allwood was able to provide all of the information required for the operation order brief. SNC included most of the information he was given; however, SNC briefed that the ammo needed to be delivered to the bridge and not to the designated LZ. SNC was able to control the movement of his squad as they began the execution; however, SNC lead his squad through dense brush causing the forward movement to be slow. SNC was able to make the required adjustments to put his squad back on track as they retrieved the ammunition. SNC made the decision to cross the bridge with the first fire team, putting him in the best position to control his squad. During the engagement, SNC was only able to provide minimal information for an ADDRAC. SNC

Candidate Davis delivered his 5 paragraph order covering most of the key points associated with the order. SNC’s orientation was confusing; SNC briefed that the current location was where the cache was located, then proceeded to state that the fire team needed to advance to the second set of grid points to complete the objective. This information is confusing and is proof that the fire team leader did not fully comprehend the order briefed to him. SNC stuttered consistently, displaying his uncertainty of the information that he was relaying. SNC improperly stated his TCM’s and informed his team they would utilize a column formation from the “assault to attack” and a column from the “attack to assault”. Upon reaching the objective, the fire

Candidate Jordan delivered an in depth five paragraph order. SNC posted security ensuring that the safety of the fire team was not put at risk. SNC had a good initial plan and proceeded to move the fire team towards the objective. SNC moved the fire team through the woods with minimal opposition; SNC maintained communication and good dispersion. Upon receiving enemy fire SNC suppressed the enemy by assaulting the enemy. SNC pushed through the objective to ensure that all enemy were killed. However, SNC forgot about the weapons cache and commenced to conduct a hasty 180, followed by a consolidated 360, and then an ACE report. SNC, in his haste to complete the problem, completely forgot that the mission was not only to subdue the enemy

Candidate McKillop was able to brief a five paragraph order that included most sub-paragraphs, except for an initial scheme of maneuver. During the delivery, SNC sounded nervous and often used filler words. His inability to brief confidently and lacking a scheme of maneuver caused him to have a delayed execution since he had to brief all of the mission details again. During the execution, SNC was able to take charge and display more confidence than he had displayed in the brief. SNC employed his fire team members appropriately based on their physical capabilities to tackle specific tasks and sent the lighter ones through the planks first. Candidate McKillop struggled the most with being able to make adjustments to his initial plan. Although

Candidate Lamb posted security prior to the beginning of his brief. Candidates Lamb's brief was delivered confidently, naturally, and not rehearsed. SNC was very comfortable delivery the 5 paragraph order. During his brief, SNC oriented his fire team and provided references to aid in the understanding of his order. Prior to execution, SNC developed an initial plan that included all the elements necessary to complete the mission. During execution, SNC was able to make decisions at points of friction. SNC was able to develop a sensible and comprehensive plan by gathering intelligence and taking suggestions. However, SNC did not rely solely on the suggestions of others to make informed decisions. At points of friction, SNC checked on the

Candidate Merritt briefed all the necessary requirements for his five paragraph order. While briefing, SNC had his entire fire team take a knee conducting security looking away from him and the obstacle while he briefed. Because of this, his fire team was not truly oriented to the problem. SNC did not conduct any type of leader's recon and came up with a plan that was severely lacking in detail and was more of a check in the box. While executing the mission, SNC got stumped and could not figure out how to adapt his plan. He paused for a minute while he tried to figure out a new plan, losing crucial time. While SNC addressed security, he did not enforce it. The candidate on security spent more time watching the problem be executed as

SNC gave a detailed brief that outlined a precise plan that was coherent and directed towards mission accomplishment. SNC contradicted a well thought out plan of action with a monotone voice and his use of filler words, such as, uh and um, coupled with a lack of passion. The lack of passion was seen in his sense of urgency as SNC spent 80% of his time briefing his 5 paragraph order that adversely affected his sense of urgency. SNC was able to secure the objective quickly, but loss situational awareness of his surroundings and enemy position that initially created confusion when engaged by the enemy. SNC was able to make clear and concise decisions in an appropriate amount of time that efficiently utilized his fellow candidates. This expedited

Candidate Kautz briefed a detailed orientation with confidence and clarity. His five paragraph order was complete and briefed thoroughly to his fire team. Candidate Kautz was not the first one on the platform and stood in the back attempting to control his fire team. This caused him to lose control of members and not fully understand the points of friction. Candidate Kautz failed to display a sense of urgency and make decisions quickly when asked by his fire team. Though he maintained confident, his decision making ability lacked. Once he identified his solution would not work, there was a pause of over two minutes in which he stopped to create another solution to the problem. His fire team appeared to respect SNC and he was clearly

SNC stated all of the required components of the five paragraph order maintaining a calm, confident demeanor with minimal use of filler words. The first two negative points arose immediately after SNC completed the brief. Although he understood what was required to accomplish the mission he failed to develop a plan of execution. Because of his lack of planning and before he made an attempt to do anything, the first words out of the candidate’s mouth after his brief were “Do you have any suggestions for what to do?” He posed this question to the two fire team (FT) members not posted as security. Once one of the FT members gave the first suggestion SNC immediately jumped back into his role as the FT leader. This was most evident when SNC recognized

Candidate Smith only briefed what she was briefed by the instructor, completely failing to brief either admin and logistics or command and signal. Candidate Smith then brought her candidates on the objective, where the three who were not on security stared at the objective and suggested ways to traverse it. At no point was a coherent plan to complete the mission proposed. Candidate Smith immediately sought the advice of her fellow candidates without proposing an initial plan or creating guidelines of any kind. Candidate Smith was the tallest candidate in her fire team, but she delegated reaching the beam to shorter candidates, a misuse of the physical attributes she had at her disposal. Candidate Smith also failed to notice that one side of the obstacle had more clearance to utilize the rope than the other until nine minutes had already passed. Failing to take into account basic mission limitations was a trend, as Candidate Smith also did not account for the use of the rope, or how many candidates would be required to move the 55 gallon drum. Ultimately, no candidate traversed the obstacle, the first step to solving this

Candidate Huff did not brief the admin/logistics and command/signal paragraphs of his order. The rest of his order was briefed with shaky confidence involving heavy use of "ums." SNC did not establish security during his brief or during execution. SNC demonstrated inefficient use of his time by spending nearly sixty seconds re-slinging the teams rifles in the beginning of execution. Due to a lack of an initial plan following the brief, the team had to begin execution whileconducting reconnaissance and orienting to the problem. Once oriented, SNC was hesitant in deciding how to engage the problem. Once a scheme of maneuver was developed, he was able to communicate his guidance to the team members and begin driving his team toward mission

Overall, Candidate Friederick's lack of confidence hindered both her operations order and her execution of her assigned mission. Her delivery lacked enthusiasm and interest. While her lack of confidence indicated unfamiliarity with the five paragraph order, SNC did brief a detailed mission statement with a task and purpose. SNC also briefed some details of her scheme of maneuver and some tasks to her subordinates, but the lack of detail and her confidence ultimately failed to inspire the other candidates in her fire team. As her fire team moved from order to execution, SNC appeared lethargic with little to no awareness of her surroundings as the team approached the objective. SNC both heard and saw the enemy combatant and demonstrated

Candidate Hogue's initial brief hit the entirety of the 5-paragraph order and contained an abundance of information, but took almost four minutes to disseminate the information. Candidate Hogue briefed a vague and generalized initial plan, outlining what needed to happen, but did not specify who would be tackling what tasks. No direction given in regards to security. While negotiating the obstacle, Candidate Hogue needed to reassess a plan that did not work, and therefore forgot to include the rest of his team; so while he was fixing the problem by himself (tying the rope onto the barrel), the rest of his team stood by and watched silently. Candidate Hogue was able to make modifications to his initial plan, but it added stress to the team because